Warehouses, manufacturing facilities, and large retail outlets typically include one or more loading docks for transferring goods to and from trucks, trailers, or other freight vehicles. Conventional loading docks usually consist of an exterior opening in a side of a building. The opening is typically covered by a roll up door, and is usually positioned a few feet above the ground to be approximately level with the beds of trailers and other freight vehicles.
To load or unload goods from a trailer, the doors on the aft end of the trailer are opened and the trailer is backed up to the loading dock opening. Some loading docks include a dock leveler with a movable deck or ramp to adjust for any misalignment between the floor of the loading dock and the bed of the trailer. The aft edge of conventional dock leveler decks is typically attached to a hinge structure mounted to the floor of the loading dock or to a rear wall of a dock leveler pit. The forward edge of the deck typically carries a pivoting lip that hangs pendant until extended outwardly to engage the bed of a trailer. With the vehicle in position and the loading dock door raised, the deck pivots upwardly about the rear hinge to allow the lip to be extended, and then downwardly toward the open end of the trailer until the lip comes to rest on the bed. Workers, fork lifts, etc. can then move into and out of the trailer to load and/or unload cargo. The dock leveler can move up and down as needed to accommodate any movement of the bed resulting from the loading and/or unloading of cargo.
Many loading docks include a compressible dock seal or shelter that extends around the top and sides of the loading dock opening. The purpose of the seal is to reduce or eliminate gaps that exist between the aft end of the trailer and the loading dock opening when the dock door is open. These gaps can allow undesirable elements (e.g., rain, snow, warm/cold outside air, debris, etc.) to enter the building and/or the trailer resulting in energy losses, undesirable working conditions, spoiled goods, and/or other deleterious effects.
Deployed and/or stored dock levelers, however, can also create leak paths that allow outside air, debris, and/or other undesirable elements to flow into or out of the building or trailer when the dock doors are open or closed. For example, gaps often exist between the sides of the deck lip and the trailer bumpers positioned on opposite sides of the loading dock opening. In addition, outside air and debris can sometimes flow under the front of the deck and pass upwardly into the building through gaps between the deck and the rear and side walls of the deck pit. In the past, conventional bulb seals have been used in these areas.